Labor Day weekend marks the unofficial end of summer, in our case a cool, wet season. With clearer skies finally here, we can dodge the storms and enjoy delayed fireworks, cookouts, football games and time at the lake before fall arrives.

At one time, the biggest competition between Georgia and Florida came each fall in Jacksonville over cocktails and a football game. Now when our two states clash, it nearly always involves water and courtrooms.

So much for thinking the federal government was going to butt out of Georgia's election process. Just a few weeks after a Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act freed our state from one restriction, along comes another.

Death and taxes are life's only certainties, Benjamin Franklin said, and one is about as popular as the other. They surely go together for most elected officials, and when they ask constituents for more, it's like a trip to the dentist for everyone.

"Safety first" was taught to a generation of children in eras past, and remains a top priority for parents, schools and society. Back in the day, children cowered under their desks to prepare for nuclear attack; today, they hunker down in hallways braced for tornadoes.